Holy Smokes!
"Are you for real, dude?" I asked.
"Yeah, come and get me. The show starts at 8:00."
"I'm leaving now," click.
It was 7:15 on a Thursday and I needed to negotiate Valley traffic from Hollywood, pick up my friend and get to the Gibson Amphitheater in 45 minutes. Could it be done? We would find out. A pair of backstage passes for David Gilmour's 4/20 show awaited. Smoke 'em if you got 'em!
Having seen Gilmour on his last solo tour in 1984 as well as with Pink Floyd on each of the last studio album tours I had opted not to buy tickets this time around. You can't go to every show can you? I'd heard the new solo record On An Island and thought it was a little slow. I'd only heard it twice. WHAT was I thinking?! Now I was lucking out big time.
We walked into the darkened concert hall and before we'd found our seats the heartbeat that opens Dark Side Of The Moon began beating. The capacity crowd went nuts! This was all too soon. We'd made it. I couldn't believe I was really there. "Speak To Me, Time, Breathe" all in a row." It was apparent that most of the post-Roger Waters Floyd touring band was onstage - no back-up singers though. Is that Rick Wright? Hell, Yeah! And Ray Manzanera from Roxy Music on guitar.
Gilmour seemed pretty relaxed and in better shape than the last go-round. He's fully gray and no longer sports the long straight hair of a 70s rocker, but is no less talented. In today's 21st century this is rock royalty of the highest order.
After these first three classic tunes our host announced that now they would perform On An Island in it's entirety. It opens onto an expansive instrumental landscape "Castellorizon" not unlike the last two studio albums by the Floyd. Since the departure of Roger Waters and the marginalization of Nick Mason and Rick Wright it has been the contention of some fans that Pink Floyd is now really just a David Gilmour solo project. It's closer to the truth to say that this David Gilmour show was practically a Pink Floyd gig minus the props. Saxophonist Dick Parry of Dark Side/Wish You Were Here fame was on board, but the real surprise (aside from Rick Wright) was the appearance of David Crosby and Graham Nash singing backing vocals on the title track - a lilting 3/4 number with loads of killer Strat. This was now, to my mind, an Event Of Mega-Proportions. Like I said earlier, "WHAT was I thinking?!"
There's more. "Red Sky At Night", another new one, features our hero bathed in deep red lighting and playing sax! Who knew? He is with the horn as he is with the guitar - economical, tasteful, and original with killer tone. Later, a powerful yellow laser shot over the crowd to paint sine waves on the wall behind us. I was now completely sold on this new album of his, but it was getting hot, I mean physically hot in the venue. The sweltering humanity of 7000 other expectant souls filled the air. It only served to remind me that this was a rock show after all and one can never expect to be too comfortable. Fortunately, the band announced an intermission at the end of the album's performance. You know, those last two numbers were a little sleepy. Maybe it was the heat.
As if all this wasn't enough, the second half of Gilmour's show continued to amaze. He opened with "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" followed by 1972's "Wot's...The Deal". Wow, I never expected to hear that one. Then 1970's "Fat Old Sun". Double wow. I don't think they would ever play these tunes at a defacto Floyd gig. Then, to my utter astonishment, Rick Wright sang on Syd Barrett's "Arnold Layne", their first ever single circa 1967. Gilmour's voice got pretty raspy on "Coming Back To Life". Chalk that up to the now fully operational air conditioning I suppose. He was back in full form for another Division Bell cut "High Hopes". It should be said that, other than this short vocal flap, his singing is album quality and the various instrument changes (sax, banjo, lot's of lap steel and even acoustic slide guitar) really kept things interesting.
Now, "High Hopes" is a pretty dramatic song and I'm sure the whole crowd was mesmerized by it's dark mood and lonely bell toll, but when the sonar 'ping...ping...ping...' of the sixteen minute epic "Echoes" filled the hall, the fans erupted with an awesome energy unmatched even by their reaction to "Arnold Layne". I set my dropped jaw back into place and looked around. People were really losing it. Hundreds of lighters and cell phones were shone in abundance. People were screaming. These are not teeny boppers folks, these fans knew how special this was and many of them have no doubt been listening to this song since 1971. I was in an ecstatic state. This was not only fun, it was sublime and meaningful. This was another Floyd classic that I never thought I would hear live. Maybe it's better that Pink Floyd have split in two. What gems will Roger Waters and Nick Mason pull out at the Hollywood Bowl in October? For Gilmour & Wright it made perfect sense to perform "Echoes" not only from a dramatic standpoint but also because it works well in Water's absence since Dave and Rick do all the harmonizing. Let's not forget, it's also the title of Floyd's latest double cd compilation.
Strobes illuminated knee-deep fog as Dave and bassist Guy Pratt stood alone during the psychedelic freakout section of "Echoes". This bit always invokes in me the feeling of being attacked by flying reptiles. Friends have said that it sounds like ghosts. If you're peaking you might have to turn the music off at this point, but if you survive you are treated to one of Floyd's finest finales. The band said their goodbyes and came back for an encore consisting of "Wish You Were Here" and the return of Crosby & Nash for a three-way a capella with David on a CSN song introduced by Crosby as "A song for our times, I think".
"Find the cost of freedom. Lay your body down." Indeed.
There was no sign of the band backstage (I heard they were having a champagne toast somewhere), but I did light a cigarette for Phil Campbell of Motorhead who was miffed that I couldn't remember his name. Well, it was 4/20.
